The presence of armored vehicles has become ever more important in modern warfare, and their defeat an ever growing challenge. Typically, to disable an armored vehicle, a gun fires a projectile in order to perforate the protective mantle of the armor. Two types of armor-piercing ballistic projectiles have been created for this purpose. The first type is the shaped charge munition. On contact with the armor, this projectile uses an explosive to compress a thin shell of metal into a plastic jet traveling at speeds of several kilometers per second which penetrates the armor. The second type is the kinetic energy (KE) projectile, comprising a narrow rod of dense, hard metal launched against the target at one to two kilometers per second, whose impact overmatches the sheer strength of the armor.
In the most common type of anti-armor encounter--tank-on-tank combat--each tank must quickly determine the results of its firing. If the opponent is not hit and defeated, then prompt adjustment of firing is required. If, however, the opponent is defeated, then the next most immediate threat can be attacked.
Tanks typically see numerous flashes from projectile impacts and tank muzzle blasts during a battle. The resulting confusion may be critical to the outcome of the battle. To assess the effect of the projectile impacting the target, a tank crew has to rely on their own observations through an infrared (IR) or visible light gun sight. Such observations consist of detecting brief bursts of light near a poorly-defined target image. The intervening distance, smoke, dust and weather may, however, prevent the tank crew from accurately assessing the results of the impact.
A need exists for a device which accurately detects optical radiation from the flash of a projectile impact with a target and quickly assesses an outcome of the impact.